538 
Hop  Culture  in  New  York. 
i  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(      Nov  ,  1877. 
One  part  of  commercial  nitric  acid  is  placed  in  a  retort,  to  which 
has  been  closely  attached  a  suitable  receiver,  and  two  parts  of  strong 
sulphuric  acid  added.  The  whole  is  placed  on  a  wire  gauze,  over  a 
Bunsen  burner  flame,  not  larger  than  that  of  an  ordinary  candle.  In 
about  eight  or  ten  hours  all  the  nitric  acid  will  have  distilled  over,  leav- 
ing the  sulphuric  acid  in  the  retort,  which,  though  slightly  diluted  by 
the  water  absorbed,  may  be  used  in  a  variety  of  ways. 
The  operation  requires  very  little  attention,  and  the  resulting  bright- 
yellow  nitric  acid  is  extremely  active  on  many  substances,  but,  being 
liable  to  slight  decomposition,  is  better  prepared  only  when  wanted  for 
immediate  use. 
HOP  CULTURE  IN  NEW  YORK. 
By  Emery  Gilbert  Bissell,  Ph.G. 
(From  an  Inaugural  Essay.) 
Hop  culture  in  the  United  States  was  commenced  in  Virginia  about 
250  years  ago,  and  in  1657  the  industry  was  encouraged  by  legislative 
enactments.  The  culture  of  the  crop  in  that  State  was  not  a  success, 
the  quality  produced  being  far  inferior  to  that  of  the  old  world.  After 
the  failure  to  produce  a  good  quality  in  Virginia  little  attention  was 
paid  to  the  growing  of  hops  in  this  country  until  within  the  last  sev- 
enty-five years,  and  the  most  we  can  learn  from  census  reports  is  that 
they  have  been  grown,  more  or  less,  in  nearly  every  State  and  Terri- 
tory in  the  Union — Florida,  Dakota  and  New  Mexico  being  the  only 
exceptions.  It  is  within  the  past  thirty-five  years  that  hops  have 
assumed  their  present  commercial  and  agricultural  importance  in  the 
United  States,  and  during  that  time  the  culture  has  increased  at  a  sur- 
prising rate,  while  in  England  and  Germany  the  increase  has  been  very 
slight  during  the  past  seventy-five  years.  Some  idea  may  be  formed  of 
the  growth  and  importance  of  this  interest  in  the  United  States  from 
the  following  statistics,  taken  from  the  census  reports,  which,  allowing 
200  pounds  to  the  bale,  show  that  there  were  produced  in  this  country 
in  1840  6,196  bales;  1850,  17,485  bales;  i860,  54,960  bales;  1870, 
127,283  bales.  Thus  far  New  York  has  led  all  other  States  in  this 
branch  of  agriculture  ;  probably  at  least  four-fifths  of  all  the  hops 
ever  grown  in  this  country  have  been  produced  in  New  York.  In 
certain  sections  of  the  State  the  crop  is  the  chief  one  of  the  farmer, 
and  the  sale  of  it  the  leading  business  of  the  community.    In  the  year 
